Why McDonald's Chicken McNuggets come only in four shapes

In a video produced by McDonald's Canada that shows exactly how Chicken McNuggets are made, we learned that the nuggets come in four distinct shapes: The bell, the ball, the boot, and the bow tie (also called the bone).

We went digging for the reasoning behind the shapes and here's what we found out.

The shapes are all the same width and they are "pressed out with a rolling cookie cutter," according to McDonald's Canada.

The reason why they are all a standard shape and size is to ensure consistent cooking times for food safety in all McDonald's restaurants, the company wrote on its Q&A page.

But the varying shapes are also geared toward kids.

"Our Chicken McNuggets are shaped uniquely for kids and kids at heart — it makes dipping more fun!" the company wrote.

So why just four shapes?

According to the company, "three would've been too few. Five would've been, like, wacky."

After the nuggets are shaped, they are smothered in a two layers of batter and then sent to the fryers, where they are partially cooked.

Finally, the nuggets are frozen and packaged for shipping to McDonald's restaurants, where they should be fully cooked through for consumption.